Out of the more than 100 Ripper suspects ever named, only one can be shown to have had a knife at the time of the murders, where they occurred - Francis Thompson. In 1888, he was a mentally ill, drug addicted man who carried a razor- sharp dissecting knife, kept from his years of studying medicine. He had already been in trouble with the police and had a history of arson, theft, and mutilating. His sole purpose for living in the Providence Row refuge, less than 100 yards from where Jack the Ripper victim, Mary Kelly, was killed was to find a prostitute who had humiliated him. He had already written about ripping their stomachs open.

But don't worry about any of that because it all comes down to interpreting his poetry.

It comes down to he has absolutely no connection to the ripper murders whatsoever, either as a suspect, person of interest, witness or even peripheral character, like so many after the fact modern “suspects”.

But I guess he may have been in the area, so at least he’s got that going for him.

But a very interesting character, that’s for sure.

__________________"Is all that we see or seem
but a dream within a dream?"
-Edgar Allan Poe

"...the man and the peaked cap he is said to have worn
quite tallies with the descriptions I got of him."
-Frederick G. Abberline

It comes down to he has absolutely no connection to the ripper murders whatsoever, either as a suspect, person of interest, witness or even peripheral character, like so many after the fact modern “suspects”.

But I guess he may have been in the area, so at least he’s got that going for him.

But a very interesting character, that’s for sure.

No contemporary suspects had any connection to the murders. Which is why none were charged. The Ripper was not caught because nobody was found to have any real connection to the murders.

Thompson, unlike most suspects, was said to be in the area. His editor, who rescued him from the streets days after the murder of Mary Kelly, held a keen interest in the Ripper murders, and discussed them with dignitaries. Thompson's biographer John Walsh believed Thompson may have been questioned by the police on suspicion that he was the Ripper.

These things, as well as him resembling several eye-witness descriptions of the Ripper makes him more connected to the murders than most of the other 100 suspects.

Out of the more than 100 Ripper suspects ever named, only one can be shown to have had a knife at the time of the murders, where they occurred - Francis Thompson. In 1888, he was a mentally ill, drug addicted man who carried a razor- sharp dissecting knife, kept from his years of studying medicine. He had already been in trouble with the police and had a history of arson, theft, and mutilating. His sole purpose for living in the Providence Row refuge, less than 100 yards from where Jack the Ripper victim, Mary Kelly, was killed was to find a prostitute who had humiliated him. He had already written about ripping their stomachs open.

But don't worry about any of that because it all comes down to interpreting his poetry.

Hi Richard,
Love your research on Francis Thompson. All well done. However one thing that is not correct, is your statement above. There was another suspect who admits to carrying around a knife at the time of the murders and in the neighborhood of the crimes - George R. Sims (yes he was a suspect), in a story by Percy Cross Standing for Cassell’s Magazine.

It says something about how we go about trying to solve the case when it becomes a core issue whether somebody had access to a knife or not. 99 per cent of the grown population did.
If we could establish the exact type of knife the Ripper used, then it could be useful to look at who carried such a knife along with himself - but we don´t know these things in any detail either.
Thompson was in the habit at some stage of carrying a scalpel along with himself, I believe - and correct me if that is wrong, Richard, please! - and a scalpel tallies poorly with the weapon that killed Chapman, for example, just as it is a bad fit for the Nichols murder too, I believe.
But that is somewhat beside the point, since I am sure that Thompson too could well have had access to for example a kitchen knife.

If Thompson - or any other suspect - had been known to wield his blade ferociously in public, it would become another story, of course. But this is not the case.

All in all, I don´t think that accessibility to an appropriate weapon poses any obstacle at all to any suspect at all, and consequently, I fail to see why a proven accesibility would make for any useful evidence at all. A drastic comparison would be how all of the suspects carried hands, and so either one of them could have strangled or partially strangled the victims.

Hi Richard,
Love your research on Francis Thompson. All well done. However one thing that is not correct, is your statement above. There was another suspect who admits to carrying around a knife at the time of the murders and in the neighborhood of the crimes - George R. Sims (yes he was a suspect), in a story by Percy Cross Standing for Cassell’s Magazine.

Or Richardson sitting on hi# back step

Or Kelly

Or ......

Probably any number of other possibles.

__________________
G U T

There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

No contemporary suspects had any connection to the murders. Which is why none were charged. The Ripper was not caught because nobody was found to have any real connection to the murders.

Thompson, unlike most suspects, was said to be in the area. His editor, who rescued him from the streets days after the murder of Mary Kelly, held a keen interest in the Ripper murders, and discussed them with dignitaries. Thompson's biographer John Walsh believed Thompson may have been questioned by the police on suspicion that he was the Ripper.

These things, as well as him resembling several eye-witness descriptions of the Ripper makes him more connected to the murders than most of the other 100 suspects.

Having a connection to the case and being caught are two very obviously different things. FT has zero connection to the case except for one of the seemingly infinite of after the fact pet theories.

__________________"Is all that we see or seem
but a dream within a dream?"
-Edgar Allan Poe

"...the man and the peaked cap he is said to have worn
quite tallies with the descriptions I got of him."
-Frederick G. Abberline

The fact you even had to point this out is a damning indictment of Ripper suspectology.

Valid point. Although to be fair, I think if you can make a case of circumstantial evidence (more than just being in possession of a knife) + being on the radar of police of the time, that should qualify someone to be considered a valid suspect.